(OPINION) Vandalism won’t stop us from serving great food — and, with it, joy, connection and unity.
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Trump’s executive order on antisemitism encourages the attorney general to use a federal law created to target the KKK and will direct federal agencies to tell colleges and universities to “monitor” and “report activities” by foreign students, staff and faculty for activities related to terrorism.
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As flames continue to sweep across Los Angeles, the impact on local faith communities has been profound. Yet, it has also highlighted the spirit of generosity and solidarity among Angelenos. Many congregants, displaced by the fires, have found refuge in the homes of fellow members, while others have offered their properties at cost to help those who’ve lost everything.
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(ANALYSIS) Monday marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. Over 1 million people were murdered there, most of them Jews, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and people of other nationalities.
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(OPINION) I have one bit of advice for all those people fuming over Elon Musk’s hand gestures: Stop. I know it’s tough to resist the temptation to go into full outrage mode over the apparent Nazi gesture Musk made during an Inauguration Day speech at Washington, D.C.’s Capital One Arena. A lot of energy has gone into parsing Musk’s gesture, and attacking those who don’t see it your way.
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In Israel after the 1967 War, Tamar’s sister-in-law, Hadas, is killed in a terror attack. In reality, Hadas was dating a Palestinian man, Daoud — a taboo in wartime Israel — and her death was a crime of passion. In the book, only Tamar knows the truth, and she keeps it a secret. Tamar immigrates to the U.S. with her husband and kids. When Tamar’s teenage daughter falls in love with the son of a Palestinian family, Tamar fears that history will repeat.
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In a day punctuated by prayer and references to God, Donald Trump was sworn in on Monday as the 47th president of the United States. “I was saved by God to make America great again,” Trump said in his inaugural speech, alluding to the failed assassination attempt against him last July during a Pennsylvania rally.
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(ANALYSIS) Israel and Hamas’ new ceasefire deal promises to bring much-needed relief to the region after 15 months of brutal conflict. But a series of uncertainties continues to loom large. Many pivotal questions remain unanswered, and their resolution will determine whether this ceasefire is a genuine step towards lasting peace or merely a temporary reprieve.
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Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire deal — pausing a brutal 15-month war in the hard-hit Gaza Strip with an eye towards ending one of the deadliest Middle Eastern conflicts in modern history. The provisional deal came weeks after negotiations in the Qatari capital Doha involving mediators from Qatar and Egypt, working with Israeli and U.S. officials.
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(ANALYSIS) President Jimmy Carter, who died at age 100, was eulogized last Thursday at his state funeral in Washington, D.C. in a Scripture-filled service recalling a lifetime of good deeds and spirituality. Overlooked in all the tributes to the 39th U.S. president and born again evangelical Baptist was Carter’s role in 1979 from preventing the demolition of the mausoleum of Chassidic Rebbe Nachman of Breslov in Uman.
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(ANALYSIS) Could it possibly have been coincidence? The very day Congress certified Donald Trump’s election as the next U.S. president, the Vatican announced the transfer of San Diego’s Cardinal Robert McElroy to become the politically significant archbishop of Washington, D.C. There’s no doubt Pope Francis wants McElroy to keep an eye on Trump.
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(OPINION) It is seldom that one enters a film that resonates with one own’s life. For me, “The Brutalist” is such a film. It combines the themes of the Holocaust, Israel, immigration, capitalism, architecture, and the struggles to make sense of it all. The film depicts a successful Bauhaus-trained Hungarian architect who reaches the shores of America after his incarceration in concentration camps.
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The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center stood for over a century, its campus a sanctuary of faith and history in a community nestled just beyond the urban sprawl of Los Angeles. By Tuesday night, it was one of more than 1,000 buildings reduced to ash.
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Most American Jews do not believe President-elect Donald Trump will effectively address rising antisemitism or manage the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a new survey, but a larger portion have confidence in his nominee for secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio. The survey did not break out responses based on who respondents had voted for in November.
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It may be the start of a new year, but many of the same issues and concerns will dominate the news cycle in 2025. From Pope Francis’ health from the erosion of religious freedom in many parts of the globe to the moral implications that come with the widespread use of AI, here’s what to watch for in the new year.
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(EXPLAINER) Hanukkah — known as “the festival of lights” — is a time of reflection and celebration for Jews across the world. Typically, the miracle of Hanukkah is celebrated in early to mid-December. Not this year. This holiday season, the start of Hanukkah coincides with Christmas Day. The eight-day celebration begins on Dec. 25 and continues into the new year.
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An inscribed marble slab featuring the Ten Commandments sold for $5.04 million at Sotheby’s auction house in New York. The stone — written in archaic Samaritan Hebrew script — is the oldest known text of the Decalogue of its kind and estimated to have been carved sometime between the period spanning 300 and 800 C.E.
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While the global median score on the Government Restrictions Index (based on several factors) held steady in 2022 at 3.0 out of 10, the number of countries with “high” or “very high” levels of government religious restrictions rose to 59, which accounts for 30% of the 198 countries and territories Pew Research Center studied.
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Jake Retzlaff of Brigham Young University — yes, that’s the school affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — will represent the matzo maker under a name, image and likeness contract that runs through the end of the school year. Manischewitz would not reveal the financial terms of the sponsorship.
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(REVIEW) Yishai Sarid’s novel “The Third Temple” was prescient when it debuted in Israel in 2015. Nearly 10 years later, Yardenne Greenspan’s English translation warns of the danger of the right-wing messianic movement and its ambition redraw the map of Israel and resume the biblical rhythms of life in the land.
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